They've cut your payment: can they?
Under the Construction Act a customer can only pay less than the sum due if they send a pay-less notice in time. Check the dates on yours and what they must pay.
Your answer
Enter how many days ago you applied, what you applied for and what they say they'll pay.
About this calculator
For builders, trades and subcontractors in England and Wales whose customer has paid, or says it will pay, less than their application. It works out the due date and final date, checks whether each notice from them was in time and says what it has to, and shows what they must pay and when.
This is a check of the dates and rules in the Construction Act, not legal advice. Your contract's wording, how notices were sent and whether the work is a construction contract at all (homeowners are usually outside the rules) can change the answer. For a dispute, see a construction solicitor or adjudicator.
What happens to your answers
We don’t keep them. Your answers go to our server to do the sums and aren’t stored or logged. If you copy a link to your answers, they’re in the link itself, so only share it with people you trust.
How it’s worked out
Under the Scheme for Construction Contracts a payment is due 7 days after the end of the period it covers, or when you apply if that's later. The final date to pay is 17 days after that. Your contract can set its own dates instead.
Within 5 days of the due date they should send a payment notice saying the sum they think is due and how they worked it out. If they don't, your application counts instead (if the contract has you apply), or you can send a default payment notice yourself. That sum is the notified sum.
To pay less than the notified sum they must send a pay-less notice, saying the sum and how they worked it out, no later than 7 days before the final date (or the period the contract sets). A late or incomplete notice doesn't count, and they must pay the notified sum in full.
Worked example
No: they must pay £60,000 by 17 October 2026, not £48,000.
The Scheme's dates · application 20 days ago · applied £60,000 · they offer £48,000 · the day a notice arrived counts as the day it was given
| Your application (or valuation) date | 25 September 2026 |
|---|---|
| Due date: the later of 7 days after the period ended (2 days before the application) and the application | 30 September 2026 |
| Final date: 17 days after the due date | 17 October 2026 |
| Their payment notice: due by 5 October 2026 (5 days after the due date) | None given |
| The sum to pay is set by your application (the notified sum) | £60,000 |
| Their pay-less notice: due by 10 October 2026 (7 days before the final date), arrived 12 October 2026 | Too late |
| What they must pay by 17 October 2026 | £60,000 |
Worked out from the Construction Act (Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 Part II, as changed in 2011) and the Scheme for Construction Contracts (England and Wales), counting calendar days from today.
Questions people ask
Their pay-less notice was valid, but I think they're wrong. What now?
They can pay the lower sum for now. You can refer the value to adjudication at any time; the decision comes within 28 days of the referral, and anything extra is due by the later of 7 days after the decision or the original final date.
Can I stop work if they don't pay?
Yes, if they don't pay the sum due in full by the final date. You must first give at least 7 days' written notice saying why. You're entitled to the extra costs and time the suspension causes.
Does this apply to work on someone's home?
Usually not. Work for a homeowner on the home they live in is mostly outside the Construction Act, so the contract alone decides.
More free calculators
Talk to us about your tax.
A free call with the team. We’ll contact you within 24 hours.